Roll out Dates for different carriers...

The following was forwarded to me from a Telecommunications Analyst at a bank. I don't know anything more than this...

"I have been told that Sprint rolls out next Wednesday (11/24). Pre-orders have already been happening.

Cingular is supposed to happen a few weeks after that, and Verizon (surprisingly) should be soon afterwards. This was surprising to me since Verizon always takes longer. Representatives from Broadcom (supplying chips to PLMO) said that to a colleague of mine."

The following was forwarded to me from a Telecommunications Analyst at a bank. I don't know anything more than this...

"I have been told that Sprint rolls out next Wednesday (11/24). Pre-orders have already been happening.

Cingular is supposed to happen a few weeks after that, and Verizon (surprisingly) should be soon afterwards. This was surprising to me since Verizon always takes longer. Representatives from Broadcom (supplying chips to PLMO) said that to a colleague of mine."

PalmOne (PLMO) After speaking with contacts and looking at the current marketing efforts for the Treo, we have learned quite a few good points.

All of the carriers are very comfortable with their current sales and inventory levels of their TREO’s, and are all working on their own schedules for rolling out the TREO 650. Transition plans are in place fro all carriers, and we hear that Sprint’s is very happy about how their current transition is happening. We do not expect much eroding of TREO ASP’s, since all carriers have marketing plans in place to sell through the units at various price points to attract buyers. We do not expect PLMO to have to take any “non-warranty” units back from the carriers. We do believe that PLMO will spend more marketing dollars to enhance the carriers efforts to meet intended price points with both the 600 and 650. These marketing dollars are already planned and budgeted. We expect the TREO 650 rollout to start next week with the announced Sprint rollout, and continue through the winter with Cingular and Verizon. It seems that T-Mobile is very committed to 802.11 (Wireless Ethernet) and does not have an Edge Network, so the true advantages of the 650 do not quite fit in their network yet. They will continue to offer the Treo 600 across their distribution while the 650 decision is being contemplated. We have heard that Verizon has only recently signed a JMA (joint marketing agreement) with Good Technology, essentially approving the product for use on their network. This will give the Verizon sales force another “official” resource to use to sell into the enterprise accounts. By the way, even before the “approved” JMA, we understand that nearly 20% of Good’s activations have already happened on Verizon networks. PLMO has been distributing demo units to many of the best carrier sales people over the past month or so and should have double the number in field by year end. This is important because the carrier sales people will sell what they use. Lastly, the big question has been who the next carrier will be. We do not know the answer, but know that the biggest issue holding back Treo sales in Europe is a “turn-key” email solution like you can get in the US. We did hear from a good contact that Visto (email messaging solutions) has signed an agreement with Vodafone. While this does not guarantee that Vodafone is next in PLMO’s carrier stable, it sure seems like a good place to do more work.

We have heard concerns from some of our customers regarding PLMO’s ability to maintain ASP’s on the Treo 600 during the transition to the 650 at each carrier. We have not encountered any significant erosion of ASP’s, because of the unique nature of the revenue streams generated by the Treo. Begging the pardon of those of you who fully understand the nature of the carrier revenue streams, here is our explanation. With a normal reseller agreement, the product is sold from the manufacturer to the reseller at a discount, then the reseller marks it up and sells it for a profit. This is the final profit on the product. The reseller also will demand “price protection” or “return rights” if prices fall. The sales of Treos through the carriers is wholly different, with the Treo acting as a ‘key” to unlock a revenue stream for the carrier. So a Treo bought for $500 from PLMO and sold to a customer at $400, with a 1 year voice and data plan costing $125/month is $1400 profit. The carriers motivation is to maximize their network usage, since the cost to build that network is sunk. The revenue stream from Treo customer is so dramatically higher than that of a normal consumer (about $30/mo) that the carriers are willing to “discount” the product appropriately to garner that incremental Treo user who remains extremely profitable. This is the reasoning behind the lack of significant discounting from PLMO to the carriers and the carriers not returning product during a transition.

"Rolls out" date means...
a) Phone leaves PalmOne's distribution centers for resellers (a la the 11/14 date we were originally told by PalmOne directly -- how do we reach that chatroom PalmOne guy, anyway, now that what he claimed appears to be false?)
b) Phone is available to public directly through SPCS stores, resellers, etc.
c) Phone arrives at pre-order customers, addresses
d) Some other interpretation that ends up p***ing off more of PalmOne's most rabid customers.

Submit your answer now, (or make up your own, just like PalmOne will do -- again).

"Rolls out" date means...
a) Phone leaves PalmOne's distribution centers for resellers (a la the 11/14 date we were originally told by PalmOne directly -- how do we reach that chatroom PalmOne guy, anyway, now that what he claimed appears to be false?)
b) Phone is available to public directly through SPCS stores, resellers, etc.
c) Phone arrives at pre-order customers, addresses
d) Some other interpretation that ends up p***ing off more of PalmOne's most rabid customers.

Submit your answer now, (or make up your own, just like PalmOne will do -- again).